Arm mounted ball holder and retriever

ABSTRACT

An arm mounted golf ball holder and retriever having one or more ball holders and a ball retriever to allow a golfer with limited or no hand movement to more easily handle their golf balls while playing on a golf course.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to a ball holder which may be removably attached to a person's arm at or near the wrist and is particularly suited for people with hand disabilities. In an embodiment the ball holder and retriever is sized for holding golf balls.

People with compromised hand and/or finger mobility are faced with many challenges of everyday living. Limited hand and finger mobility presents difficulty in grasping and/or moving objects that persons without such disability take for granted. In the game of golf, for example, hand-disabled people may have difficulty in picking up a golf ball from the green or hole. It would therefore be desirable to have an arm mounted holder for one or more golf balls together with a ball retriever so as to ease the difficulties faced by hand-disabled people on the golf course or other venue where handling of similar sized balls is required (e.g., tennis, ping pong, etc.).

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present invention addresses the above needs by providing in a first aspect an arm mounted apparatus that includes one or more ball holders positioned along the arm near the wrist, and a ball retriever projecting out from the distal end of the apparatus. The apparatus is easily removably attachable to the user's arm. The part of the apparatus that mounts to the arm (referred to as “arm mount” herein) may be in the form of a fingerless or fingered glove, for example, or it may be in the form of an open cuff with a releasable closure such as strings, snaps, zippers, straps, or any combination thereof, for example. At least one, but preferably two ball holders are mounted to the arm mount to allow the user quick access to a ball when needed. The ball retriever is configured to enable the user to pick up a ball by pressing the ball retriever against a ball until it becomes captured in the retriever head. Balls may be removed from the ball holder and retriever with minimal effort.

Additional objects, advantages and novel aspects of the present invention will be set forth in part in the description which follows, and will in part become apparent to those in the practice of the invention, when considered with the attached figures.

DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING FIGURES

The above-mentioned and other features and advantages of this invention, and the manner of attaining them, will become apparent and be better understood by reference to the following description of the invention in conjunction with the accompanying drawing, wherein:

FIG. 1 is a top plan view of the ball holder portion of the apparatus;

FIG. 2 is a side perspective view thereof;

FIG. 3 is a perspective view showing the ball holder portion shown in FIGS. 1 and 2 attached to an arm mount which is attached to a person's arm near the wrist;

FIG. 4 is the view of FIG. 3 rotated 90° with the user's fingers shown pulled in to the palm and the head of the ball retriever projecting from the distal end of the arm mount; and

FIG. 5 is the view of FIG. 4 rotated a further 90° showing the upper portion of the arm mount and ball retriever.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF A PREFERRED EMBODIMENT

Referring to the drawing, there is seen in the various figures an arm mounted apparatus generally indicated by the reference numeral 10. Apparatus 10 may be removably mounted to a person's arm and is used for holding and retrieving golf balls although the apparatus may be used to handle other types of balls including tennis balls and ping pong balls, for example.

Apparatus 10 includes an arm mount 12 which serves as a sturdy base upon which the ball holder 14 and ball retriever 16 may be securely mounted. The arm mount 12 may be of any desired form so long as it is able to secure the ball holder 14 and ball retriever 16 to a person's arm which is indicated by reference numeral 20. In the embodiment shown in the figures, the arm mount 12 is in the form of a cuff including a thumb hole 12 and side edges 12 b and 12 c (FIG. 5) which provide an elongated space “S” therebetween allowing the user to alternately put on and take off the arm mount 12 as desired. The arm mount 12 may be secured in place on the arm 20 by any suitable means including, for example, lace 22 which is secured about lace hooks 24 located on arm mount 12. Arm mount 12 may be made of any desired material such as cloth or leather or plastic, for example. Stiffer arm mount materials (e.g., plastic) may be desired for users who require enhanced wrist stability due to their particular hand disability, for example. Holes “H” may be formed therein to provide air to the arm 20.

The ball holder 14 may be permanently fixed to or removably attachable to arm mount 12. In the embodiment shown in the figures, ball holder 14 is removably attachable to arm mount 12 via a strap 14 a which wraps around arm mount 12 and is secured via any suitable means such as VELCRO, for example.

Ball holder 14 includes at least one but preferably two ball holding sockets 14 b and 14 c which are configured for removably capturing a respective golf ball 30 therein via a snap-in interference fit. In the embodiment shown in the figures, the ball holding sockets are each configured with at least two but preferably first, second and third annularly spaced prongs 14 b′, 14 b″, 14 b′″ and 14 c′, 14 c″, 14 c′″ (see FIG. 4). The prongs are made of a resilient material that will bend outwardly under pressure sufficient to allow the golf ball 30 to be pressed past the prongs (toward the base 14 d on which they are mounted) and become captured therebetween as seen in the figures. Once the ball 30 is seated in between the prongs, the prongs spring back to their original position causing the ball to be captured and held between the prongs. When a ball is needed, the user simply pulls on a ball 30 (e.g., by grasping the parts of the ball which are revealed between the prongs) with sufficient force to bend the prongs outwardly until the ball is released from between the prongs.

As seen best in FIGS. 4 and 5, ball retriever 16 includes a head portion 16 a and an arm portion 16 b which is removably mounted to arm mount 12 by any suitable means. In the embodiment shown in the figures, arm portion 16 b includes a clip 16 c at the proximal end 16 b′ thereof which may be in the form of a pen clip, for example. As such, the ball retriever 16 may be attached to arm mount 12 by positioning arm portion 16 b beneath lace 22 and strap 14 a and inserting lace 22 underneath clip 16 c as seen in FIG. 5. The ball retriever is easily detached from the arm mount via clip 16 c when not needed.

Ball retriever head portion 16 a may be configured the same as ball holders 14 b and 14 c wherein three prongs 16 a′, 16 a″ and 16 a′″ are arranged in annularly spaced relation on a base 16 d at the distal end 16 b″ of arm 16 b. As with the ball holders, the prongs 16 a′, 16 a″ and 16 a′″ are formed of a resilient material allowing a ball 30 to be pressed into the center of the prongs whereby the prongs bend outwardly a distance sufficient to allow ball 30 to become captured between the prongs.

A user can thus easily pick up a ball 30 by pressing the head portion 16 a downwardly against a resting ball until the ball becomes captured between the prongs 16 a′, 16 a″ and 16 a′″. The ball 30 may likewise be removed by pulling on the ball with enough force to overcome the inward bias of the prongs until the ball releases from between the prongs. Although prongs have been shown and described herein as the ball holder and retriever, it is understood other configurations may work well such as a suction cup type of device, for example.

It will thus be appreciated that the present invention provides an apparatus and method by which persons with limited or no mobility in their hand can hold and retrieve balls with relative ease.

While this method and apparatus has been shown and described with reference to certain preferred embodiments thereof, it will be understood by those skilled in the art that various changes in form and details may be made therein without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention as described. 

What is claimed is:
 1. An arm mounted golf ball holder and retriever, comprising: a) an arm mount adapted for removable attachment to a user's arm; b) at least one golf ball holder attached to said arm mount, said at least one golf ball holder having a socket configured to permit a golf ball to be removably secured therein via an interference fit; and c) a ball retriever having a head portion and an arm portion, said arm portion removably attached to said arm mount with said head portion extending distally thereof, said head portion having a socket configured to permit a golf ball to be removably secured therein via an interference fit. 